June 12, 2018

Books That Awaken The Travel Bug In Me

Today's Top Ten Tuesday Topic is Books That Awaken The Travel Bug in Me.

First, can we just appreciate the fact that I have two weeks of school left and I am doing a Top Ten Tuesday! This one seemed like it wouldn't take too much brain power to get done, so here we are.

Second, I am not much of a traveler. It sounds good in theory, but it ends up being so exhausting that I don't actually enjoy it much. Stupid chronic illness. So when a book actually makes me want to go somewhere, that says something pretty spectacular about that book. I may not find 10 such unicorns, but I'll see what I got.

Donna Leon - This will be no surprise to anyone who has read this blog for longer than a month. I love Donna Leon's books. They are set in Venice and the city acts as kind of a character in the book. It's so interesting how the police have their own boats to get around the city, but sometimes they just take the regular boats that everyone else takes. Her descriptions of Acqua Alta when the water in the canals rises above the streets, are fascinating. Just read them already. Particularly the Guido Brunetti series.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin - This book made me want to go to New York City. I realize that the New York of the 50's and 60's is long gone, but some of the places they frequented in the book are still there. I always think of NYC as kind of gritty and peopley, but in this book it was fancy and glittering.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - On one hand, this book delineated all that was horrible about Russia during the Stalin era. On the other hand, it portrayed the people and architecture of Moscow as beautiful and solid. I wouldn't want to go there now, but I have been kind of fascinated with Moscow since I saw 'White Nights' as a kid.

Christopher Moore - His books are mostly set in San Francisco. I've been to San Francisco, but I think I was 9 years old when I went. His books take place in a San Francisco that kind of doesn't exist. I mean it does, but in his books there are vampires and hellhounds and harbingers of death. The homeless Emperor of San Francisco is based on a real guy, though, and all the landmarks are there in real life.

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman - This is another book that made me want to visit NYC, as well as the other places she had homes. There was one in New England she spent tons of money renovating, but never lived in. She had a great big ranch house in California. But the big one was the giant place on 5th Avenue in NYC. I just want to go through them and dream of what I would do with them.

Jane Austen - All her books make me want to tour the British countryside. Maybe visit Bath. But mostly walk all over fields and stuff.

So that's not ten, but it's some. What books make you want to visit their locations?